Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Author: admin

  • Peterborough – College Arms

    One of the city’s two JD Wetherspoon pubs, this is the one which isn’t in the Good Beer Guide and so I just popped in for a coffee. Well, I say a coffee, but I had four to get my money’s worth.

    Service was friendly, the pub is clean and the environment is comfortable. There seemed to be quite a few regulars that the staff knew, with everything being organised and well managed.

    I’m in my periodic mood about JD Wetherspoon’s obsessing over Brexit, so I decided not to eat at the pub, limiting myself instead to just the unlimited hot drinks which cost just £1.10. As it was before 9am I didn’t pay much attention to the real ale selection, but they usually have around five or six to choose from.

  • Peterborough – Sir Henry Royce

    The pub’s grand name and the modern frontage, if you ignore the smashed glass on the internal door, give a positive first impression. It’s actually though a Stonegate pub and it looks to be in competition with the Wetherspoons which is located over the road.

    The beer selection is a bit lacking in excitement for me, with the only vaguely dark option being the Abbot Ale. One thing that it’s hard to complain about is the price, with half a pint costing just £1.25.

    It’s a large and comfortable pub which was surprisingly busy, so they’re clearly doing something right. The food options are pretty similar to Wetherspoons and I noticed that they were serving a decent amount of food, so again, something is being done right.

    An interesting table number, painted on to a 2 pence coin.

    My half pint of Abbot and it tasted fine, well-kept and at the appropriate temperature. The service in the pub was friendly and engaging, with the staff looking like they actually cared for the customer experience. This seems to be standard for Stonegate, they do employ some good people. There are a lot of television screens around the pub, so for those people who like to watch sports, they’re certainly well catered for.

    Overall, it’s not going to win the CAMRA branch pub of the year, but it’s affordable, sufficiently clean and the service was friendly. But some more interesting real ales would perhaps be to their benefit…..

  • Poznan – Ferris Wheel

    I didn’t go on the city’s ferris wheel, but it looked rather impressive, standing 45 metres high.

  • Poznan – Chmielnik

    This craft beer pub is just a short walk away from the main square and had a rather modern feel to it from the outside.

    As beer lists go, that’s pretty impressive for me, a dry stout, an imperial stout and an extra stout. So, given that, I knew I’d have to stay for at least two drinks. However, for those who prefer lighter beers, the choice was rather more limited.

    This is the dry stout, although I also went for the imperial stout. The dry stout was rich, had notes of coffee but wasn’t overly strong even at its 4.4%. The imperial stout, Centrala Piwna Saint Satanislav, was 8% and was rich and a little sweet, although the afternotes of chocolate were pleasant enough.

    The whole environment felt clean and modern, with the staff member being helpful and his English was excellent, although there’s no surprise there in Poland.

  • Poznan – Christmas Markets

    I don’t share the excitement of Christmas markets in the way that some people do, they just seem to be over-priced and commercialised. I’m not tempted by a Christmas drink of Glühwein standing outside when there’s a perfectly good pub 50 feet away which offers comfortable surroundings and imperial stout….

    Anyway, with that scrooge mentality out of the way, I did have a little traipse around Poznan’s Christmas markets. It wasn’t busy at all when I visited, which was on a Tuesday evening at around 19:00 and I had expected a few more people. There has been an effort made to light up the statues located in each of the square’s corners though so it does feel a little festive.

     

  • Poznan – Ice Sculptures

    More photos later of Poznan’s Christmas market, but this appears to be all that’s left of some ice sculpture contest. There were several heaps of ice in a row, with this only this one still standing. It collapsed within a couple of hours, so this is all I got to see of the ice sculptures. Anyway, I’m sure that they were lovely.

    And here’s more information about it – https://gloswielkopolski.pl/poznan-ice-festival-2018-drugi-dzien-atrakcji-i-konkurs-glowny/ar/13727618.

  • Poznan – The Brothers Pub

    Located near to the market square, this is a traditional pub which doesn’t stock a great selection of craft beers, but had a homely and welcoming feel to it. There are some beers from the Czech Republic and also the delight that is Heineken……

    Internally it’s atmospheric, although is also rather dark. This adds to the general ambience, although perhaps not much else.

    Winter sports equipment on the roof of the pub.

    This was the dark option, the Litovel Premium Dark, which was adequate although lacking in any real depth of taste. It was a little watery, although the aftertaste wasn’t bad. Or at least I think that’s what the beer was, since that’s the glass it was served in.

    The service was perfectly polite and efficient, and the pub takes card payments. The prices were also moderate, especially given the central location of the pub.

  • Flights – British Airways (Amsterdam to Heathrow T5)

    After the usual long exercise that is provided by Schiphol Airport to get to the gate, the British Airways Airbus A320 was not an unwelcome sight.

    The boarding process wasn’t particularly well handled, most customers ignored the announcement and then just went up to the boarding desk anyway regardless of what group they were in. I do like the new boarding arrangements, but they’re still not always particularly effective away from Heathrow. But since I don’t have a bag I need to put in the overhead lockers, I’m not too concerned that the order of boarding is sometimes a little muddled.

    There was a friendly welcome from the crew on-board who seemed to be acknowledging every customer, and the pre-departure cabin check was in-depth. The crew member was asking customers with a mobile phone to confirm that they had put it in flight mode, which is a rare level of efficiency. The flight was also around 90% full with the Club Europe cabin divider being set at eight rows.

    There was a choice between sandwiches or Ploughman’s, along with a scone and clotted cream, with a dessert of a cake. I was able to get my first choice of the Ploughman’s, but customers in row eight were just being given the sandwiches as the choice had run out by then.

    As for the meal, the ham looked a little processed but tasted better than it looked, with the accompanying blue cheese having a decent depth of flavour. The coating of the Scotch egg was bland in terms of the taste, but the piccalilli and pickle added texture. At least some effort had also been made with the presentation of the dish, so it looked reasonably appetising. Although the appearance of the ham needs improving……

    Not a complaint but just an observation, but the scone crumbled too much for my liking, although it’s not a bad addition to the afternoon tea. The bread, which sometimes isn’t provided, actually was OK, with the cake being similar to a generously proportioned Mr. Kipling’s Cake.

    I only ordered this gin and tonic to test the rumour that British Airways aren’t supplying full mini bottles and are instead pouring half measures in the galley. I was pretty sure that if this was true it’d be on long-haul flights, but either way, I got the bottle presented to me and not part-poured. I also didn’t want the full G&T, so I still have most of the gin in the bottle I took with me.

    The service was efficient and effective, it can’t be easy trying to get food and drink to eight rows of Club Europe in the time that the cabin crew have on this flight. There was also time for the crew to offer a second drink, and to wander up and down the cabin to check that customers were OK and didn’t need any assistance.

    An interloper from the Euro Traveller cabin came and used the Club Europe toilet, something always exciting for me as I like to see what the crew say. Normally it’s a crew member who has sent the customer to the forward cabin because there’s a buy-on-board trolley in the way in the rear cabin. Anyway, the cabin services director (or whatever they’re called now on short haul) wasn’t impressed and I noted him eyeing up the customer, although he didn’t say anything. However, the customer couldn’t then get back to Euro Traveller for over ten minutes as the crew member had the trolley in the aisle and made no effort to move it as he served drinks to Club Europe customers.

    Overall, the aircraft was clean, the temperature was appropriate for my needs, the crew were polite and the flight landed on time. Ideally the flight wouldn’t arrive at Heathrow T5 B Gates as it means waiting for the internal shuttle train, but I wasn’t in a rush and so the extra time didn’t matter. This flight was an Avois redemption upgraded to Club Europe using a Lloyds upgrade voucher, so the price for this flight was £25 plus 4,000 Avios.

  • Poltava – Football Match Thing

    It does seem strange seeing this in the Evening Standard, given that I went to all of these places last week. I didn’t know that there was a football match in Poltava, and I’m surprised that they’ve moved it. I hope that it all gets sorted, Kharkiv in particular did feel a bit distant from everything in many ways, but Poltava felt a very safe and comfortable town. Poor Ukraine….

  • Heathrow – Ibis Heathrow

    Since I have a flight from Heathrow which leaves relatively early in the day (well, afternoon, but I need to sit in the lounge for six hours) I thought I’d get a nearby hotel for the night before. It transpired that the rail fares were expensive to do that, and Accor had a “buy two nights get one free” offer, so I went for three nights at this Ibis Hotel on the Bath Road which also worked with my £10 rail fare.

    One thing I hadn’t realised until reading the reviews of this hotel is that Heathrow Airport offer a free bus service to the hotels on Bath Road. It was introduced to limit traffic between the airport and the limited surrounding area, but that meant I could get to the Ibis for free. Very handy, as I really don’t like the National Express Hoppa bus, it’s unnecessarily expensive and price gouges, a dreadful image for the company in my view.

    There’s a large dining area, all was clean and organised.

    One of the more generous vouchers that I’ve seen, and actually one of the clearest in what customers could order.

    I went for a free pint of London Pride, very lovely.

    And there is the London Pride. I very much liked the big chairs, gave a feeling of privacy for those customers wanting a private chat. I was on my own though, so didn’t need the privacy, but I liked the chairs anyway as they looked exciting. I don’t get out much…..

    The room was clean and had everything that I realistically needed for the stay. Well, other than a Greggs chicken bake, that would have been nice.

    The plug for the kettle was about two inches long as it had been cut back. However, there was no nearby socket to plug it into, so the set-up wasn’t entirely practical.

    I’ve heard about this, but never seen it. The hotel will probably claim it’s to do with tracking their towels during the cleaning process, but realistically, it’s to stop customers pinching them. I’ve never stolen a towel from a hotel (bar once at a hostel in the US where I left with it by mistake), namely because it’s theft, but I approve of efforts to stop people doing it.

    Anyway, the stay was all fine, no noise problems either internally or externally and the staff were all friendly. The member of staff at the bar was particularly engaging, and for an airport hotel it met all my expectations.